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Judge Greg Mathis will be speaking in Flint, Michigan on Saturday, January 30th to help residents learn about their legal options during the ongoing water crisis.

The retired Michigan 36th District Court judge is the host of the successful nationally syndicated TV series, Judge Mathis which is currently in it’s 17th season.

Presently, residents are still expected to pay their monthly water bill despite the fact that the water is contaminated with lead, E.coli and Legionnaires’ disease.

Many residents are seeking restitutions for their water bill. In addition, they need assistance in determining whether or not they should join the various class action lawsuits against the government. The judge said he’s organizing this special event to ensure the community doesn’t get exploited in their time of need.

“One of the biggest frustrations the citizens of New Orleans experienced when [Hurricane] Katrina came about was lawyers converging and many of the people were taken advantage of and they did not receive the justice they deserved” said Judge Mathis in an interview with CNN.

“I have gotten a group of lawyers and — at the Mathis community center, we are going to be taking calls for those who want to find out whether their lawyers are the lawyers that would do them justice” he added.

“Some of these lawyers are coming from out of town. Many of them have disciplinary problems from the past. And we want to make sure that these folks aren’t taken advantage of.”

According to The Detroit News, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the ACLU of Michigan, Concerned Pastors for Social Action and Flint resident Melissa Mays recently filed a nearly 60-paged lawsuit against Treasurer Nick A. Khouri, the five-member Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board, Flint city administrator Natasha Henderson and the city of Flint.

The coalition alleges that the government violated the Safe Drinking Water Act. The lawsuit also is asking the court to order state officials to completely replace all lead service lines in the water system at no cost to customers, including privately owned lines.

CNN reports that Flint residents have also filed a class action suit against Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, the state of Michigan, the city of Flint and other state and city officials.

Mathis’ forum will be held at the Quinn Chapel AME Church, located at 2101 Lippincott Boulevard in Flint 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. He will be joined by attorney Willie Gray.

Bottled water will also be provided. To learn more about the special event, click here to visit Judge Mathis’ Facebook page.

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